[RPM] Your Grimoires
 

Grimoires for Ritual Path Magic, stat them up and post the details here. Description of contents, background, cost, weight, rituals, language, etc.

Some examples from me of Cthulhu Mythos grimoires;
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The Pnakotic Manuscripts
Dead-language (Yithian if not translated into Classical Greek or English) Artefact
18-point energy source for rituals
Weight 5 lbs.

Glimpse Through Time (Scry the Past or Future) +7
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Unaussprechlichen Kulten
German
Weight 4 lbs.

Approach Brother (Contact Ghoul) +3
Contact Friend on the Other Side (Speak with Dead) +5
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De Vermis Mysteriis
Dead-language (Latin) Artefact
6-point energy source for rituals
Weight 4.6 lbs.

Summon Shambler from the Stars (Summon Star Vampire) +4
Voorish Sign (See Spirits) +3
Prinn's Crux Ansata (Ankh Charm that Disrupts Summoned Creatures and Spirits) +5
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Necronomicon
Dead-language (Classical Arabic) Artefact
24-point energy source for rituals
Weight 6.5 lbs.

Create Undead Servant (Bag of Bones) +6
Create Wight (Create Greater Undead Creature) +5
Ward Against the Undead +5
Speak with Dead +7
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The Book of Eibon
Dead-language (Latin) Artefact
12-point energy source for rituals
Weight 5.2 lbs.

Create Barrier of Naach-Tith (Ward against Magic and Spirits) +4
Create Mist of Releh (Area Attack against Spirits) +4
Eibon's Wheel of Mist (Hide from Spirits) +5
Voorish Sign (See Spirits) +3
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The Witch-Cult in Western Europe
Encrypted English
Weight 4 lbs.
$2800/$10400

Bear Witness to Greatness (Identify Mage) +6
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The Seven Cryptical Books of Hsan
Dead-language (Classical Chinese) Artefact
21-point energy source for rituals
Weight 8 lbs.

Restore Life (Revivify) +9
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Over to you guys.

Re: [RPM] Your Grimoires
 

Just out of curiosity, what are your thoughts about one path Magery for Path of Undead on the Necronomicon?

Re: [RPM] Your Grimoires
 

Some of the books I've used in past games:

Ye Abominations Almanac
Dog-eared book with illustrations of monsters. A catalog of monsters, describing habits, habitats, diets and other helpful information. Much of it is accurate. Some editions have marginal notes from previous owners and related spells.

Ars Metamorphosis
(Art of Metamorphosis) Book of poetry written in the Archaic tongue with erotic
illustrations. Ancient tales of love and enchantments; includes exotic techniques and sex spells. (Some of the poems are spells, so reading aloud from the book can be dangerous!)

The Craft of Venus
A locked book with the emblem of the Gilded Violet on the cover. A collection of sex spells and erotic lore compiled by an infamous courtesan-mage.
(I came up with a lengthy list of spells to go in this book, some taken from GURPS 3e and many custom-made, such as the Zone of Privacy. Sadly, I think the list got lost in one of our moves)

The Green Man
Bark-bound book stitched with thin vines. Spells of Plant Control, tapping magic energies of swamps & related eco-systems; raising Swamp Elementals. Also contains wood-lore and study grants the reader plusses in Wilderness Survival, Swamps and related skills.

The Helpful Guide to Sorcery
A large leather book, bearing no title but the image of a smiling mouth on the cover. The book is a sentient spellbook, and can be used by anyone to cast any spell they can think of. And if they can't think of anything, the book will be more than happy to make suggestions. You can call it Eddie if it will help you relax. No, don't worry; just let the book take care of everything. It will also offer suggestions about your wardrobe, diet and how you really should be keeping an eye on those friends of yours; not that they're untrustworthy, but let me recommend a spell…

Yes, it is cursed. Besides being annoyingly chatty, the book drains one level of the user's WILL for every spell it casts. And it will never perform any magic to harm its actual creator, who probably left the book where you could find it just to ensnare you.

The Invysible Web
Plain book with brown leather binding. Title is written on the cover in magical ink, visible only to caster of a successful See Invisible or Detect Magic spell. A treatise on magical energy lines in the earth, auras and how to manipulate them.

On the Slaying of Dragons
Well-worn book, perhaps a trifle scorched. Memoirs of a famous dragon slayer. Personal anecdotes mixed with hearsay dragon lore. Semi-reliable. Occasionally one can be found in a dragon hoard, the property of a foolish knight who fell victim to one of the book's inaccuracies, which the dragon has annotated with corrections, glosses and ironic commentary.

The Tale of Tails
Thin volume with bits of fur on the binding. Describes how to make Magic Tails which give their wearers animal abilities as well as the spell to attach them.

Re: [RPM] Your Grimoires
 

Hey, let me pitch an idea;

Grimoires can, instead of requiring all its spells collected within a work share a Path, have skill requirements that an caster must meet before she can benefit from it. For instance, a conversion of the Azure Dragon book from Pyramid 3/66 would still have requirements of Mathematics-12+ and Astronomy-12+, and its spells can be using different Paths.

The drawback, then, to having a grimoire of diverse rituals would be a need for mundane expertise.

Re: [RPM] Your Grimoires
 

I'm not sure what you're trying to say here. Could you explain it a bit more please?

Re: [RPM] Your Grimoires
 

I think he's using an idea analogous to the way that some Books in Path/Book magic have skill prerequisites. See Books, Hidden in Plain Sight on p122 of Thaumatology and The Deeper Principia, Annotated on p164.

Re: [RPM] Your Grimoires
 

A similar idea is that only casters with certain disadvantages can use a certain grimoire (I.e. a grimoire containing rituals for both causing pain (a Body spell) and mentally torturing someone (a Mind spell) can not be used by anyone without Sadism).

This (and my previous idea of skill requirements) is an alternative to restrictions of sharing a Path on collection grimoires (see RPM page 31). All other qualities of collection grimoires apply.

Re: [RPM] Your Grimoires
 

If your idea is that a grimoire gives its bonus to a entire Path than that is a +29 CF modifier, maybe even +49 CF since +29 CF covers a Book skill which encompasses rituals that are about as big as a Normal Tradition for Higher Purpose. Anything less is going to be overpowered.

Edit: typed one thing when I should have typed another.

Re: [RPM] Your Grimoires
 

Would say +19 CF and +9 CF be proper for normal and narrow tradition grimoires?

Re: [RPM] Your Grimoires
 

If I were pricing such a thing I might go with...

All Path skills: +149 CF
Entire Path: +49 CF
Book skill or Broad Tradition: +29 CF
Normal Tradition: +19 CF
Narrow Tradition: +9 CF

That might be a bit harsh, but hell it SHOULD be. You're getting a bonus to a entire Path or Tradition making them akin to a Place of Power you can carry with you. I probably wouldn't allow a bonus greater than +5 for All Path skills and I'd give the side-eye to any player wanting one higher than +2.

Re: [RPM] Your Grimoires
 

No, not an entire Path. Just the rituals within, like standard RAW Grimoires - the only rule change is that collections can substitute the shared Path requirement for skill prerequisites or required disadvantages.

Re: [RPM] Your Grimoires
 

My favorite caster totally wants the +2 Grimoire of All now


I personally have no issues with collections not having the same path if are somehow thematically linked or related

Re: [RPM] Your Grimoires
 

Hey, I've thought of a title for a Grimoire, but not what its content and ritual/s would be. Ideas?

The title is: Sensible Planning, Reasonable Tommorow.

Re: [RPM] Your Grimoires
 

This has previously shown up in my games as a McGuffin, but I like to make my McGuffin's actually useful bits in any of themselves, if somewhat problematic to possess for long periods.

The Awesenomicon:
+10 Planar Summons (Greater create crossroads, lesser move body)
+10 Planar Ward (lesser control body- lets you create a ward that summoned planar entities cannot cross)
+10 Summon Castle (Greater create matter, bonus to skill +10 architecture [one roll only, single skill])
+5 create feast (greater create matter, only for food, only if it is a massive feast)
+5 Furnish castle (greater create matter, bonus of +5 to applicable craft skill [one roll only, single skill])

The remaining 80 pages contain a detailed and always up to date index of planar entities, their physical measurements, particular talents that they have, and a few notes about how to break/dominate them and/or notes like 'will happily perform <task/act> in exchange for being allowed to be free'.

Possessing the book grants one level of magery, unaging, and the perks 'limitless glottony' and 'limitless hedonism' which allows the possessor of the book to eat as much as they like without ever getting full and indulge whatever pleasure they want without over getting overstimulated (other side effects apply normally).

Touching the book after the previous owner has died causes the person who has touched it to 'possess' it. It will provide no bonuses as a grimore or otherwise to someone who is not the possessor, but the book is readable to all and they can see what it WOULD provide were the current owner to expire. It has a notably bloody history as a result.

The book obviously has a sordid and bloody history- no one knows who originally wrote it; if they wrote it for themselves and its sheer power started it down its path of constantly changing hands, or if it was written with nefarious intent in mind; perhaps as a secret weapon to take out a king/leader/upstart.

Re: [RPM] Your Grimoires
 

All long term effect spells that are lesser effects over large areas.

Lesser create/control chance for better weather
Lesser control body for better crops
Lesser strengthen body for better animals
Lesser destroy body for less pests/vermin
Lesser strengthen matter for better storage of crops
Lesser strengthen body/destroy matter for clearing earth with animals (you never hit any stones, the animals don't tire as easily, earth moves easier)

Basically exactly what you'd want the 'village wizard' to have on his shelf. Dozens of examples exist with the spells in the +1 to +2 range. Particularly powerful copies can be found in oasis sitting in the middle of deserts, dust bowls, mountains or frozen tundra- but these more powerful books also have portions that detail how to make magical plant guardians, which will still be protecting those lost oasis.